Sunday, July 19, 2015

You Should Be Rowing (Better)

Though it may sound weird, I like
rowing.Trust me though; there was a
long time where I did not like rowing.About the first ¾ of year through my first serious rowing program, I did
not look forward to the rowing portions of my training.I did them because I was pleased with the
results.

500m Row Stats

I don’t know how it changed, but
one day after a long row I got off the Concept 2 ERG and thought, “I actually
enjoyed that”.And ever since, I’ve been
way less grumpy, and sometimes enthused about doing my rowing sessions.

In the week leading up to posting
this blog, I’ve completed row sessions of 44, 9 and 55 minutes totaling
roughly 26,000m.I’m in a
strength-building/foundation phase (weights) right now, so this is actually a
low level of rowing volume.What I’m
getting at is, I spend a decent amount of time on the rower.

While I’m pretty focused on
maintaining watts/pace or achieving some other metric during the row, I sometimes
observe other “rowers” around me, and the form they use while
“exercising”.Rowers and exercising are
in quotes because what these people do when they get on the row machine many
times shouldn’t be classified as actual exercise.There may be movement on their part, but
there is a serious lack of intensity or reasonable form that would result in
significant physical adaptations and quality results from their efforts.

COMMON ROWING TECHNIQUE ERRORS

In the first video I’ve
highlighted some common rowing errors that are explained in more detail below
along with their hashtag descriptors.

#A.A.R.P.Rower

Typically this is a senior-aged
individual, though some younger people can display this style.More than most of the population, seniors
need to increase mobility, full-body strength/endurance and reduce impact (on
joints) while exercising.All of these
needs can be met with rowing, which is great, but not many seniors know how to
row properly, or are shown correct technique by their trainers. Even if an individual starts off with a
limited range of motion, over time they will be able to perform a complete
rowing movement – it just takes practice.

#HobbyHorseRower

These people are interesting, as
they often have a decent looking pull to start their row, but their return isn’t
so hot – which eventually makes their subsequent pulls less than desirable.If your rowing effort is going to be a real
full-body movement, you have to engage your anterior core (and hip flexors) to
‘pull’ your upper body back toward the starting position (see ‘hip hinge’ and
‘hip hinge w/ arm extension’ drill in the video).This also sets you up in “front” of your hips
(similar to a quality Deadlift set-up position) instead of “behind” (think
tailbone tucked under), poised to brace against your core and entire back for a
stronger pull.Not to mention this will
help increase your stroke rate, resulting in a faster overall pace.

#ReverseRower

Although this individual looks as
if they’re doing a ton of work, it’s all a mirage.There is no significant tension on the chain
and very little of the chain is being used during each pull.It’s a flurry of movement with nothing really
going on.

#EliteRower

These people are so elite that
they forgot to, or feel like they can’t be bothered to finish their pull.The issue here is that even though the back
musculature is initially engaged (see video for demo), that active muscle
tension is lost toward the 2nd half of the pull (think quickly
decelerating instead of continuing to accelerate).The back muscles are so much stronger than
those of the forearms/wrists so why wouldn’t you want to use them throughout
the whole movement?

#SuperEliteRower

This is just an exaggerated
example of the previous technique error.They have the right idea in that they want to get the most amount of
chain used in each pull, but it’s the wrong execution.Extending the pull with a weak, rapidly
decelerating motion is not the way to do it.The goal should be to use more power over the length of chain used in each
stroke vs. just trying to get a longer stroke. A better strategy would be to inch closer to
the flywheel housing (where the chain comes out of the enclosure) to add a few
links to each stroke at the start of your pull, which would allow you to
actually transfer real power to those extra chain links.

#ClusterRower

Everything that’s wrong all in one
movement, super-fun!!

WHY ROW?

I encourage you to row and row a
lot.But, do it right (refer to video #1
for a technique demo).Getting the form
right is not all that difficult, in fact, you can watch a technique demo on the
rowing machine!Besides improving your
endurance level, there will be a significant increase in your overall ability
to do work in other areas of your training (work capacity).Results from my rowing efforts seem to
transfer to other aspects of training better than doing the elliptical, riding
the stationary bike or running on the treadmill.While these are acceptable modes of exercise,
they lack a few key components for direct exercise transfer - the most
important being COM displacement.

TRUE FULL-BODY EXERCISE

On a bike (treadmill or
elliptical) your core (or Center of Mass) does not move at all.When on the rower, your COM moves (a lot)
with every stroke.This style of movement
is called “triple extension” (at the ankle, knee and hip).It’s generally accepted that triple extension
movements are better for improving an athlete’s speed, power and strength and
have a greater physiological impact on the body than other exercise selections.

MORE SPORTS SPECIFIC

Consider this example,
“Boardercross Coach A” has his athletes do x6, 1:30 bike intervals as a “test”
for their race day readiness (depending on field size, you can experience 2
time trials, 3 heats and a finals on a given race day).This seems like a decent assessment for
competition readiness as the time of the work required matches that of a race,
right?Unfortunately for these athletes
the answer is no.Why?While the time of each interval matches the
longest race they might experience, the work during each interval doesn’t come
close to that of what they’ll encounter on race day in terms of full-body
intensity or similar movement patterns.

In a Boardercross Race you're making full and
partial triple extension movements constantly as you negotiate course features (see video #2 to get an idea of the kind of obstacles that are on course). Your quickness and agility, along with power, determines how well you can pump and/or absorb obstacles, which cannot be accomplished without triple extension movements. *Quick side note – also a good reason for training the full Olympic Lifts if you participate in Snowsports* Is this happening on the bike?No.You’re in a seated position, just spinning your legs without any COM motion
at all.

Let’s look at “Boardercross Coach
B”.His athletes do two different tests
(at different times of their training schedule) – Test #1 – x10, 300m row
intervals and Test #2 – x5, 500m row intervals (a decent 300m row would be
completed in the low to mid-50 second range, and as far as a 500m goes,
mid-1:30’s is pretty good).These times
represent the lowest and longest races an athlete might experience so they’re
showing a varied range of readiness with these segments.Also the movements (triple extension) match
the actual movement patterns used in the race.In addition, the work required (intensity) in completing the interval
training sessions much more closely mimic that of what the athlete will go
through on race day.

Which test/training is
better?Obviously the rowing example
wins here.Coach B’s athletes will not
only get a better assessment of their race day readiness but also their overall
fitness level and ability to do work (work capacity) for future training
segments.

Good Luck 'Spinning' Your Way Over These Start Features

HOW DO I GET BETTER?Besides demonstrating appropriate form and following a quality rowing program (and rowing a lot), how can you get
better at rowing?Lift weights (get stronger
- which is often the answer to many ‘how do I get better’ questions from
athletes).Deadlifts, Olympic lifts,
Squats, Bent Over Rows, Low Pull Rows, Rear Delt, Arms and Core Work, etc. –
improving your overall body strength, back and core with these lifts will help
you become a more proficient (and faster) rower.

Once again, rowing is ideal for
warm-up and conditioning and is relatively easy in terms of technique (it’s as
easy as this mantra: “Legs, back, arms – arms, chest, legs”).It’s a low impact, full-body exercise that
almost anyone can use.It’s also a very
effective way to get a lot of work done (I averaged 960 Kcal per hour burned in one of
my 52 minute slower interval rows last year).When’s the last time you burned nearly 1,000 Kcal in a lower intensity
training session?Lastly, it’s really simple
to incorporate rowing into a mix of other exercises for a killer conditioning
challenge, especially if you work-out in a space like the Colorado Kettlebell Club.Try this as part of your next
conditioning day:

4 Rounds for total Time

x250m Row (500m if you’re more
advanced)

x6 Goblet Squats (x10 for
advanced)

x6(each) Lunge Stance Ball TossFeel free to post your times and weights used when you do this workout.

1 comment:

Believe in me though; there was quite a long time where I did nothing like rowing. About the to begin year through my very first serious rowing program, I did not anticipate the water rowing machine portions associated with my training.